Go Time

This has to be the busiest year so far.  FFG has been pioneering light dep greenhouse technology now for 10 years.  I thought this thing would take off way faster but I think prohibition was a big factor in our growth.  Secondly indoor had to take a bit of a nose dive to help bolster the idea.  Now here we are with a fairly developed industry but things are still not perfect.  Molds and pesticide/fungicides are at an all time high and greenhouses coupled with light dep seem to be a tuff nut to crack for most growers.  What I've come to realize is most people only know greenhouses that are hot and humid in the summer and they all want or think they need cooling systems, dehumidifiers and shade cloth..   None of that makes total sense to me.  On one hand we have areas that have low relative humidity and evaporative coolers or wet walls can drop air temps and support plants.  What about the growers who do have higher relative humidity and the wet wall just doesn't cut it...?    The answer isn't shade cloth..  Thats only going to make it shady...  More shade means less light and less light is less growth..  My thought is to not trap air..  If we trap air its going to heat up...  If we have trapped air heating up then we must exhaust it or something...  That means we need exhaust fans on all day.  I hope they keep up...  In the summer its pretty easy to encourage solar gain..  When we have solar gain it means the greenhouse is potentially going to heat up more than the outside temp..  Not good on a hot summer day..  Also the VPD stays through the roof.  The next quick fix isn't a dehumidifier...  Its stopping the air from being trapped..  Hot air heats up plants (along with IR waves) and when a plant overheats it transpires.  Transpiration equals high VPD (humidity) in the greenhouse.  If we don't trap air it wont heat up.  If it doesn't heat up we've avoided solar gain.. At that point a 100% diffused greenhouse cover will actually lower the surface temp.. (plant temp)  Lowered plant temp means less transpiration to keep cool and leads to a dryer more controllable grow.  Most people are imagining greenhouses are for summer when they are really for winter.  I like to take the "winter mode" aspect out of the summer house..  If you'd like to know more check out my blogs and videos  https://foreverflowering.net/category/erics-blog/   https://foreverflowering.net/video/ or check out one of my upcoming presentations.  https://www.cwcbexpo.com/speakers-new-york-2016/    https://imperiousexpo.com/speakers/    www.lightdep.com  Instagram @foreverfloweringgreenhouses